Iga Swiatek took home £3,000,000 for winning Wimbledon, the same prize money scooped by Jannik Sinner. Let’s take a look at whether that makes sense.
Centre Court crowd didn’t get their money worth in the ladies final
6-0; 6-0 isn’t a scoreline you expect to see all that often in a Grand Slam final. Poland’s Iga Swiatek was ruhtless in her demolition of America’s Amanda Anisimova in less than an hour of play on centre court on Saturday. 23-year-old Anisimova froze on the big stage after playing the match of the life in the semis when she saw off World Number 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Swiatek, now 24 and a six-time major winner, made the most of her opponent’s off day to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.
Amazingly, the entire women’s final could have fit inside the first set of the men’s showpiece. Runner-up Anisimova took a pair of bagels in the final but still claimed £1,520,000 in prize money, the same figure collected by Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s draw.
Sizzling Sinner sees off Alcaraz in four sets
Jannik Sinner was stunned by Carlos Alcaraz five weeks ago in the Roland Garros final, despite holding a two sets to love lead and three consecutive match points in the fourth. The Italian made up for it with an astounding display to win his first Wimbledon crown on Sunday despite losing the first set. Alcaraz, two-time defending champion, seemed to run out of gas while Sinner was as fresh as a daisy. The italian recorded straight sets wins over Novak Djokovic in the semis and Ben Shelton in the quarters. Amazingly, he trailed Grigor Dimotrov by two sets to love in their Round of 16 match but the Bulgarian had to withdraw injured with the score at 2-2 in the third.
Elise Mertens case study
Belgian World Number 22 Elise Mertens gets the best of both worlds as an accomplished singles star and a specialist doubles player. The 29-year-old reached the Round of 16 in the singles, falling to World Number 1 Aryna Sabalenka. For that, she earned herself £240,000. She also won the ladies doubles title with Veronika Kudermetova to take her total prize money at Wimbledon to £580,000. Mertens isn’t exactly a massive household name but she’s managed to make some good money at this year’s Championships. The fact that her singles matches are arguably less physically demanding than her male counterparts mean she’s got the time and energy to enter, and excel in, the doubles event.
Doping scandals
2025 Wimbledon singles champions Sinner and Swiatek both failed drug tests in 2024 and were handed somewhat lenient bans WADA. Sinner’s legal team struck a deal with WADA in February which saw him banned for three months, meaning he wouldn’t miss any major events. This is an entirely separate issue for another day, but it’s certainly one to keep in mind.
Where to next?
Prize money in women’s and men’s tennis will continue to be equal whether we like it or not now that precedent has been set. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any format changes across either discipline in the neat future.
